In this first book, each chapter is full of suspense and breathless.
Thomas, the hero wakes up with no memory of her private life in an iron box. It opens and he finds himself in a sort of clearing, along with forty other boys (he himself does not know how old he is, but he thinks older). They mean nothing to him and use in their vocabulary unfamiliar words. They have an attitude at least suspicious, if not hostile. Those of them that have few memories of their life before remember his face, without further details.
Thomas finally realized (and readers with him) that it is in the middle of a gigantic maze, the stone walls and ivy. A maze populated by monstrous beasts, beasts mid mid machines, deadly to humans if serum is not used within 24 hours. This labyrinth moves every day, and after two years older of the band, even while walking the labyrinth every day, have not managed to find the exit.
The band of boys living in autarky, each specializing in a certain task of undertaker to cook through maze explorer ("runner"). They get to the same frequency, via the metal box, essential supplies. They do not know why they are there or how long they will stay there.
Thomas throughout the book will try to put the puzzle, and the reader with. I thought, reality to the Hunger Games? Experiment? Alien experience? Handling the unconscious? Other? For what purpose? Sometimes incongruous clues are scattered throughout the narrative. I read this book at speed, I was so eager to have answers to all of these (especially warn you right away, you will not have all the answers at the end of the first volume!).
The novel is well paced, very well structured, intellectually pleasing (as mentioned by another reviewer, hard not to think of Cube). The characters are engaging and well drawn. Certainly this was not the ambition of The Giver, but I read it as a devilishly entertaining thriller. An excellent book for the beach or for reading in the fireplace.
(Read in English)
